Recommendations

I have known about Grace since I was about 13 I guess. Heard "Pull Up To The Bumper", found a 12" single of "I'm Not Perfect But I'm Perfect For You" and sporadically got into her stuff. At 17, 2001, my Mum bought me the Compass Point Sessions which had some songs I really liked at the time, nowadays not too much on it appeals to me as I am totally back into disco. Around 20, I read Jussi Kantonen's and Alan Jones's book "Saturday Night Forever: The Story Of Disco", an excellent book by the way, and found out that before the eighties hits, Grace was an underground disco diva who released three essential disco albums: "Portfolio" (1977), "Fame" (1978) and "Muse" (1979). Well one day whilst rifling through the cd store (ah, remember them...) I found "Portfolio" for ten dollars. I got it, of course, and was sucked into the hits "Sorry", "Thats The Trouble" and THE hit from that album, "I Need A Man", which must have cemented Grace's outrageous image in the gay and straight clubs alike at the time. The rest has those lush Sigma Sound ,er, sound, that although is a corny medley is still quite wonderful. Anyway...for years, I have wanted "Fame" and "Muse" but found out that "Muse" had never been released on cd at ALL, whilst "Fame" was available on Amazon....for $500. Not being the sort of lad to have $500 to splash out on a cd, unless it comes with a vial of Columbian coke as well, I had to wait...well, wait no more ladies and gentlemen, because Gold Legion have released "Fame", complete with a booklet full of info from Christian Wilkane.

Grace has an unusual voice, many would say it is limited, but I like it and this material suits her a lot. In reality, without the amazing work of John Davis, undoubtedly one of Disco's BEST producers and arrangers, the stunning sweet vocals from the Sweethearts of Sigma and Tom Moulton's mixing, this album wouldn't have been that strong. But combine them, with amazing lush romantic melodies and you have...heaven. At first I was cautious. I stuck to what would have been the A-side as I only had heard of "Do Or Die" being a minor hit. But the medley of "Do Or Die"/"Pride"/"Fame" is so wonderful that it didn't take long to reach the proverbial top spot of the chart in my head. The melodies...the campness...the determination...those trademark strings of John Davis that in "Pride" echo his own album from that year "Ain't That Enough For You" (criminally, no John Davis material has been re-released on cd), it is just great. On the "second side", it opens with "Autumn Leaves", a song sung in French, and the only one that doesn't 'wow' me, but it is pleasant and I like portions of it. Then we have "All On A Summers Night" and "Am I Ever Gonna Fall In Love In New York City", both hopelessly romantic and with a sound that would have easily been played on the deck of one of "The Love Boat's" discotheques...delicious rhythms that are simply wonderful. Finally, "Below The Belt" is also great, in which she sings with force that she trained hard for this fight...Grace and the gang, you delivered a wonderful album. Sure it sounds like it was created in 1978 and to most of my generation they would see it as a camp, outdated novelty. But to those of us that love our lush strings, over the top dramatics, beautiful melodies and for the music to take us away...this is your ticket. One oddity is that the reviewer mentions a non album b-side called "Anema E Core" yet Gold Legion didn't include it as a bonus track. Still that is a minor quibble. I'm so glad Gold Legion have released this and put it onto Amazon, unfortunately in the disco community GL's reputation has been tarnished, and this is a shame, because they have some great product but reportedly take a long time to deliver the goods, but waste no time in taking your money...those scare stories have ensured I will never buy from their site, but will wait for them to come on to Amazon. All I can say is I can't wait to get "Muse"....brilliant.....

Forget waiting years for your copy from Gold Legion to arrive... just go out and get the brand new 3cd boxset from Universal Music called "GRACE JONES DISCO", which covers all her disco years. The very thick and durable black box holds all 3 of her disco mini LP's, all gatefold replicas, "PORTFOLIO", "FAME", and "MUSE"- AND each cd has LOTS OF bonus tracks!! And yes, all you Gracie fans, it contains EVERY disco song she recorded at the time and ALL the 12" singles with ALL the B-Side Instrumentals!! Along with the rare B-Sides like COMME UN OISEAU QUI S'ENVOLE 12" disco mix, and ANEMA E CORE 12" version AND the previously unreleased 12" instrumentals of those!! What more could you possibly ask for? A booklet?...You want it should come with a booklet? WELL IT DOES! A big thick booklet of every damn bit of info on Gracie you could ever want and hope to remember. So what are you waiting for?? Go to e*bay or AmAzon and it's even available here on discogs, and order yours today. Then forget EVER ordering another cd from Gold Legion because I've ordered and over 6 months later still HAVE NOT received any of the 7 cd's I ordered from them. And YES these 3 are all remastered cd's : )

Collectors looking to buy directly from this label be very very cautious. I ordered 2 discs and for 4 months saw absolutely nothing. I am not the only customer experiencing this. At the end I made a complaint to my credit card and obtained a refund. At first they answered my email and kept saying they will check on the dispatch but after several times they stopped answering altogether. It wasn't as if they sent the cds and I did not get them. I think the truth is they do not have the cds there they claim they have in stock. There is a facebook page suggesting the label is a scam, and I absolutely do not think otherwise. This is not a malicious review and anyone has questions can look up.

I have been waiting for a remastered release on CD for more then 30 years ! And now here it is, thanks to Gold Legion !! The sound is very good. Unfortunately there are no bonus tracks. I was hoping for "Comme un oiseau qui s'envole" to be included.